Week 4 Savory Crockpot Chops w/rice

Ok, so I know this one was supposed to have chunky veggies, but I changed it. It's my recipe so I can do that ya know. It's also a recipe completely out of my head (RUN, RUN NOW!!!!) so I'm sure it can be tweaked once I figure out how it tastes; so far smells delicious

sooo...

Savory Crockpot Chops w/rice

Hardware:
Crockpot
Saucepan
Measuring cups/spoons
Wooden spoon
Spatula
Knife
Cutting board

Ingredients

3/4 C diced onion (I used red cause that’s what I had already diced)
1 t dried garlic (I actually did measure this one)
2 C brown rice
1 C chicken broth

1 can cream of mushroom soup
3/4 can of milk
4 pork chops
Basil, oregano, Italian season, salt and pepper to taste
3 bay leaves

1 can corn (with liquid)

Cooking

Sauté onions and garlic in saucepan – I started it with a bit of olive oil, approximately a tablespoon or so. Once the onions are translucent and the garlic looks softened a bit add the rice and mix well. You want the rice to soak up the onion juices along with the olive oil, also while cooking on low heat the rice will brown a bit and get kind of a nutty flavor.

Add the chicken broth, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Let this cook for about 8 minutes to let the flavors meld a bit. You’ll know to take it off when there is still a bit of broth on the bottom of the sauce pan. Pour the rice into the crockpot.

To the rice in the crockpot add the soup, milk and rest of the herbs (the herbs are to taste). Mix this well and add the pork chops that have had the fat removed (tho not all of it.. it’s all about the pork fat -- at least some of it) and been cut into bite sized pieces.

Mix this well and add the bay leaves, I also sprinkled a bit of dried basil on top.

Cook on low for about 8 hours or until the pork is thoroughly cooked. Part way through the cooking add a can of corn (or other veggie) with liquid.

Desert

I needed something sweet tonight so here we go.. It's still baking so now idea if it will even turn out. I had to much topping for the amount of frut so feel free to halve the topping if you want. Me personally the topping is almost the best part of the crisp.

Pear and Peach Crisp

1 can pears - drained
1 can peaches - drained

1 T flour
1/4 t ground cloves
1 t cinnamon
1/4 C white sugar

topping

1 C oatmeal
1 C flour
1 C packed brown sugar
1 C cold butter
1/2 baking soda
1/2 baking powder


Dran the fruit and put in a baking dish -- keep a little of the liquid from one can you just don't want all of it.

Mix the cloves, cinnamon, flour and white sugar together and sprinkle on top of the fruit.

Combine the oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, baking soda and powder, and butter until well mixed, pour on top of fruit.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the topping is brown and crispy

Jan Week 3 Bacon/feta stuffed chicken

Bacon feta stuffed chicken is totally a new favorite of mine. I've made if a few times over the last year or so and keep tweaking it as I go. This is the most up to date version and the one I tried to get pics of.

So dinner this week is Bacon/feta stuff chicken, with garlic mashed potatoes and celery.

Chicken:

Hardware:

Cutting board
Frying pan
Knife
Crockpot
Bowl

The bacon -- I tend to used 1/2 pounds of bacon at a time; once it's frozen just take a sharp knife and cut the package in half. The half that isn't being used gets wrapped in saran wrap and then bagged and put back in the freezer. The other half gets cut into small pieces to be cooked.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound bacon
1 container of feta cheese -- I prefer getting the block of feta as it ends up
cheaper and you get more for your money
3 chicken breast -- if you shop at fairway like I do and get the double breasts
it is soooo much easier, otherwise you'll have to butterfly them
1 jar diced tomatoes -- I used home canned things from mom so mine is actually a jar
of canned tomatoes that I add to
basil, oregano, dried onion and garlic, Italian season, salt and pepper

Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook until nicely browned. While it's cooking trim the fat from the chicken breast and butterfly if you have to -- if they are super thick you may need to pound them out a bit. If using chicken breast from fairway it's not necessary to butterfly or pound out just don't disconnect them.

Once the bacon is cooked, remove using a slotted spoon to a plate with paper toweling.

Assembly is easy, put on bacon, put on cheese, fold chicken over to cook. Put some of the tomato on the bottom of the crockpot (if using home canned mix tomatoes, basil, oregano, Italian salt and pepper together). Place stuffed chicken breasts on the bottom and then cover with the rest of the tomato mixture. Cook in crockpot on low for about 8 hours.

Mashed Potatoes -- are easy, really they are lol. This week I'm using the left over potatoes from the soup a couple of weeks ago. I'm just adding garlic to them.

Celery -- heart of celery -- cut up and steamed with basil and oregano.

Jan Week 2 Salmon Burgers w/focaccia bread

I'm not a huge canned salmon person, but this one seems to work well. Yes I leave the bones in -- take them out if you don't like them, I do scrape the skin off cause blech

So the menu was BBQ salmon burgers w/focaccia bread and cheesy cauliflower

Focaccia bread -- it's a recipe in here somewhere lol

Cheesy cauliflower -- cheesy not just cause it's got cheese in it but cause I cheated on the cheese lol

Hardware:

Large pot
Cutting board
Knife

Ingrediants:

1 head of cauliflower
dried onion and garlic
1 can cheddar cheese soup (see I cheated)

Heat water to boiling, cut the florets off the head of cauliflower, trimming to bite size pieces and throw in the water with a handful of dried onion and dried garlic. You want the cauliflower al dente (yeah fancy word hehehe). Once cooked drain them -- I used the slotted part of my steamer to keep the onion and garlic as well. Mix with the can of cheese soup.

Burgers

Hardware:

Large bowl
Measuring cups
Baking sheet
Oven at 375

2 C soft bread crumbs (I had a loaf of potato bread I needed to use so it got whirred
up in the food processor)
2 egg whites
1/4 C bbq sauce I used a Jack Daniels bbq sauce for the flavor, but use your favorite
1 T lemon juice (I just used a healthy squirt so didn't really measure)
1 T Teriyaki sauce (again I just squirted it in lol)
large handful of shredded cheese -- I used mozzarella this time
1/2 C diced onion
1 can of salmon
basil, oregano, salt and pepper to taste

Put everything into a bowl, with your hands lightly mix -- kind of fluffing until it's all mixed well. Divide the mixture into 6 parts and pat them into rough loaf shapes and put them on the baking sheet. Put into the oven for approximately 10 minutes -- or until they are cook through.

Dishing for lunches is a piece of the bread on the bottom, salmon on one end, cauliflower on the other and pop in the fridge

Jan. Week 1 Smashed potato soup

Smashed Potato Soup -- This was supposed to be a variation of a crispy smashed potato that I saw on the food network and potato soup. I really dislike potato soups that are mushy so I wanted to make sure what I made was chunky and I thought the smashed potatoes were an interesting twist. It failed for the original concept, but sailed for the overall taste and what it ended up being in the end. I'm going to post the recipe for the original concept -- it will be made again, oh yes it will hehe.

Equipment:

Stockpot (used my 12-qt for the potatoes and then the 5-qt for the soup itself)
Good cutting board -- will need both sides; one for meat, one for veggies
Good knife
whisk
bench scrapper (optional but I used one lol)

Crispy Potatoes

1 lb new potatoes

Cook: Boil potatoes until fork tender. Take out and let cook slightly. On a clean cutting board individually press down on each potato until it just smashes. Crisp up in a frying pan with a smudge of olive oil

* I learned that red skin and new are NOT the same thing and so this is where the soup ended in a failure for the concept lol*

Soup

Rue:

3 T butter
3 T flour
1.5 C milk

Other ingredients

1 heart of celery chopped (I even used the leaves)
2 carrots
3/4 C chopped onions (I used red)
1 kielbasa
1/2 lb bacon -- oven cooked and then crumbled in towards the end)
basil, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper to taste

Cook:

While the potatoes are boiling. Start the rue by melting the butter in the smaller stockpot, add the flour and once combined for a few minutes add the milk while whisking to combine completely. Once combined add the herbs. Leave this to simmer and thicken slightly while working on the rest of the ingredients

Chop up the celery into smaller bite size pieces -- you actually do want to see them -- and throw into the pot

Peel and chop carrots and throw in the pot

Flip the cutting board and cut the kielbasa into small bite size rounds -- no need to quarter or anything else -- throw in pot

Once the potatoes are out -- if using the redskin like I did, I just smashed them with the bottom of a plate and tossed them in so it was chunky

Let cook together for approximately an hour on the stove top -- set at a simmer you don't want it to boil at this point.

before dishing up crumble bacon into it and stir in. Dish out into lunch dishes and pop into the fridge -- or if serving right away do as normal

** This does turn out really thick so ass more milk if you want more of a basic soup than more of a stew

Back again

I've had so many family members and friends ask for my recipes that I'm going to try and keep this updated more with what I make. I'm even going to try for pictures but don't hold your breath on that one lol

Menu for January

Week 1 - Smashed Potato soup
Week 2 - BBQ Salmon Burgers w/focaccia bread and cheesy cauliflower
Week 3 - Bacon/feta stuffed Chicken with Garlic mashed potatoes
Week 4 - Crockpot Chops with Chunky Veggies
Week 4 - Maple Turkey w/brown rice and veggies